English Porcelain.
Porcelain was first made in England about the year 1745. The best period of the manufacture dates from 1750 to 1780, though some of the oldest factories have survived to the present day. English porcelain, or as it is better known as “China” ware, was made at Chelsea, Bow, Derby, Worcester, Plymouth, Bristol, and in Staffordshire. Some of the best porcelain from these places does not yield in beauty to the finest of Sèvres ware.
The Chelsea porcelain works were first under a Mr. Charles Gouyn, and it appears that Nicolas Sprimont was his successor, who was originally a goldsmith in Soho, and who was probably of Flemish origin.
Chelsea ware is remarkable for its deep rich claret-coloured grounds. This colour was first used on the Chelsea porcelain in 1759. Turquoise-blue, pea-green, and Mazarine-blue were also, though in a lesser degree, peculiar to Chelsea ware. The early pieces are without gilding, which is more of a distinguishing mark of the later productions. The paste, the enamel, the colour, and technique are all perfect in their way, but the art and design of the objects do not by any means equal the workmanship; this was of course due to the false taste of the period, when the rococo element in design was fashionable everywhere (Fig. 78). Vases, statuettes, scent bottles, compotiers, bowls, cups, saucers, animals, birds, fruit, and flowers were made by Sprimont in an extravagant style of design.
In 1769 William Duesbury, of the Derby porcelain works, purchased the Chelsea manufactory, and six years later he acquired the Bow porcelain works. A less extravagant style of design and decoration characterized the Chelsea-Derby productions, a specimen of which is seen in the cooper’s bowl, Fig. 79.
Fig. 78.—Chelsea Vase; Jones Collection. (S.K.M.)
The Bow China factory was owned by two partners, Weatherby and Crowther, in 1750; the former died in 1762, and the latter failed in the business in 1763. Duesbury, of Derby, bought up the Bow works in 1776, when he removed the moulds and models. Chelsea and Bow ware are very similar in design and appearance, and consequently a difficulty exists in classifying doubtful pieces. There are a great many examples of Bow porcelain in the Schreiber gift in the South Kensington Museum, and Professor Church is of the opinion that they are mostly authentic specimens. The Chinese-shaped vase with the rococo and Louis-Seize decorations is a typical example of the Bow porcelain (Fig. 80).
Fig. 79.—Bowl of Chelsea-Derby Porcelain.
Fig. 80.—Bow Porcelain Vase. (S.K.M.)
Fig. 81.—Derby Statuette.
The date of founding of the Derby porcelain works is not exactly known, except that certain pieces of Derby ware have been advertised for auction “after the finest Dresden models” in 1756 and up to 1770, proving that the works must have been going on during these periods. According to Professor Church, William Duesbury, the first of that name, was connected with the Derby works in 1756, and died in 1786. He was succeeded by his son of the same name, who took into partnership Michael Kean in 1795. This W. Duesbury died in 1796. The works were carried on by another William Duesbury until the year 1815, when they passed into the hands of Robert Bloor, who carried the manufactory on until 1848, when it ceased. Locher, a manager of Bloor’s, started another factory after this which still exists to-day. The Derby coloured porcelain statuettes are imitated more or less from Dresden ware, even to the Dresden marks of the crossed swords (Fig. 81), which marks are copied by a great many porcelain manufacturers. The cup and saucer (Fig. 82) is a specimen of early Crown Derby. The borders are deep blue and the festoons pink. Some of the names of the painters who were engaged at the Crown Derby works are:—F. Duvivier (1769), P. Stephan (1770), R. Askew (1772), J. J. Spengler (1790), and W. J. Coffee (1791). Askew was a clever figure painter. Deep blues, reds, and greens, with lavish gilding, and ornament of a very conventional character, are found on some of the late Derby cups, saucers, and plates.
Worcester porcelain was first made by a company consisting of fifteen shareholders, formed in the year 1751 by Dr. Wall and Mr. W. Davis, the inventors. The name given to the early ware was the “Tonquin porcelain of Worcester.” These works have been going almost without interruption under different names of proprietors until the present day.
Fig. 82.—Crown Derby Covered Cup and Saucer.
Vases and other objects in Worcester porcelain of the early period were decided imitations of Chinese and Japanese wares, but at the same time they were dignified examples both as to form and decoration compared with the meaningless rococo designs of Chelsea and Bow.
The vase (Fig. 83), in the Schreiber Collection, is Oriental in form and decoration, but has a restrained character of its own that is not usually met with in the contemporary wares of the period.
Fig. 83.—Worcester Vase. (S.K.M.)
The vases are the chief glory of Worcester ware; in colour they are exceedingly rich, having grounds of “gros bleu,” turquoise, pea-green, maroon, and a fine shade of yellow; gold is also used in modified proportions.
We have mentioned before the mode of decoration by transfer printing adopted by Janssen on the Battersea enamels and by Sadler and Green on the Liverpool delft; this style of decoration was extensively employed by the Worcester decorators for the fillings of the panels with landscapes and rustic figures, after engravings by Watteau, Gainsborough, and others.
Dresden and Sèvres wares were imitated at Worcester, and it is generally thought that when this was done—during the period 1768-1783—the Worcester ware was at its best. This was the middle period, and towards the time that ended about the beginning of this century the designs became laboured, and lavish use of gold rendered the work vulgar and showy.
Josiah and Richard Holdship and R. Handcock are names of some of the principal artists of the early and middle period. Donaldson, Neale, and Foggo were names of enamellers who worked at the Worcester pottery. A curious design in this ware of a tobacco-pipe bowl (Fig. 84) is in the Schreiber Collection.
Plymouth porcelain manufactory was established by William Cookworthy (1705-80), who was the first to discover in England the real China clay or kaolin, about the year 1755. Cookworthy had a good knowledge of chemistry, and was a wholesale chemist and druggist. He found both the China clay and China stone at Tregonning Hill and at two other places in Cornwall. A patent was granted to him in 1768 for the manufacture of porcelain, and the firm of “Cookworthy and Co.” established itself at Coxside, Plymouth. A French ceramic artist named Sequoi was engaged to superintend the works. The Plymouth works were not of long duration, for shortly afterwards they were removed to Bristol, and Richard Champion, of Bristol, obtained a licence from Cookworthy to make the Plymouth porcelain, and bought the entire rights from the latter in 1773. From this date until 1781 Champion owned the Castle Green works at Bristol which formerly belonged to Cookworthy. Statuettes, vases, rustic pieces, teapots, cups and saucers, &c., were made in both Plymouth and Bristol china, many of them being imitations of Sèvres and Oriental wares.
Fig. 84.—Bowl of Tobacco-pipe, Worcester Ware.
In Staffordshire many porcelain works are still in existence that began in the last century or early in this, such as Longton Hall, New Hall, Spode, Wedgwood, and Minton, but space prevents us from giving any details of their work. Liverpool, Lowestoft, Coalport, Swansea, Nantgarw, and Rockingham may be mentioned as other places where English porcelain was made.